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PG diploma course in rail and metro tech shut by COEP due to poor response
Only three students enrolled for the course this academic year, forcing the COEP technological university to discontinue the course
With only three students having taken admission in the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) Technological University’s ‘post-graduate diploma course in rail and metro technology’ this year, the university has suddenly decided to close down the course.
The ‘post-graduate diploma course in rail and metro technology’ was started four years ago as a one-year, full-time diploma course with a capacity of 25 students and a course fee of Rs2.5 lakh per student. While the course was started to teach students about railway and metro infrastructural works in response to the demand for skilled manpower in this field, only three students enrolled for the course this academic year, forcing the COEP technological university to close down the course.
Professor Mukul Sutaone, vice-chancellor (VC), COEP university, said, “This is a unique and self-funded course which was started at the COEP university four years ago. Experts from the metro were called to give lectures at the university. At least 20 students need to take admission in this course for it to be viable to conduct. This academic year, the expected number of students did not enrol in this course and hence, it was decided to close down the course for this academic year.”
“There is no intention on the part of the university to close down for good the course or its curriculum but only because of the meagre number of students this year, it has been closed down. In future, if we get the expected number of students for the course, we will certainly restart it in full swing,” professor Sutaone assured.
As part of this post-graduate diploma course in rail and metro technology, various subjects related to civil, mechanical, electrical, signal and telecom engineering are taught to students by experts actually working with different departments of the metro and railway.
For a while after the course was introduced, it got a good response but later, the comeback dwindled till this year, only three students enrolled against the course capacity of 25 students, forcing the university to shut down the course. Whereas students who had taken admission in the course for this year are now worried about losing one whole year. One of the students who had taken admission in the course for this academic year, said, “I got to know about this course from my cousin and so, I immediately took admission in the course by paying the full fees. Looking at the career opportunities after completing this course, which are good, I decided to enrol in the course. However now the university is closing the course just because of less number of students and that is not right. I want to study the subjects this year, as an entire academic year of mine will be lost otherwise. I demand that the course be resumed immediately.”
